Stumbling Towards Solar PV Incentives in Ireland

Ciaran Marron, CEO of Activ8 Solar Energies, travelled to Munich’s Intersolar 2018 conference to discuss the successes of solar throughout the continent and strategies for the future. Here he outlines some of his thoughts following this gathering of European suppliers and engineers alike.

To see where our industry sits at this moment in time we should note the successes achieved by our nearest neighbours – Northern Ireland and ourselves.

The SEAI have done a great job spreading the word of sustainability throughout Ireland, with grants for almost every useful upgrading measure available. To this end, energy conservation and renewable production has almost become glamorous! You need look no further than Dermot Bannon on RTE to realise that triple glazing, insulation and heat pumps are the fashionable things to go for.

When it comes to Solar Thermal, the SEAI have truly done their part also. We have upgraded thousands of homes through the grant scheme, and thousands of others simply through the knock-on effect of testimonials, advocating the effectiveness of established solar homes. Great products, services and savings are infectious, but sometimes need a push to get over the hump of inertia. In this context, Northern Ireland have taken an approach to incentivise Solar PV. From simply driving the road from Dundalk to Castleblayney, you can see the effects from one incentivised region to another.

For those not familiar with the N53, it turns into the A37 (NI) for 5.4 kilometres. As you drive this small stretch of road, you can see what a difference the PV incentive has made. You will see both social and private housing with systems installed, as well as numerous businesses from petrol stations to bars and shops. All reducing the electricity purchased from the grid, saving money and doing their bit for the environment. Then as you move further down the road onto the N53 again you can see domestic customers availing of solar thermal again in the Republic.

A small PV incentive, similar to that which homeowners can obtain for solar thermal in Ireland would put us in a position to catch up with our European counterparts in the renewable stakes. We already have the governing body in place, along with mechanisms to roll this out extremely efficiently. We have checks in place for trade specific qualifications and insurances to ensure the customer is using a properly vetted company. We already have the vehicles in place to do quality insurance inspections to ensure only high-quality installers remain on this grant list. We even have an efficient way of trading carbon credits which could also subsidise installation costs in place. Leaving us with 2 roadblocks;

The lack of an incentive in place for solar PV

The lack of planning foresight for Solar PV, as we are still working from exemptions with solar thermal in mind

Change is difficult. Enacting mass change is harder again. Indecision, plodding progress and fear of change is what has us as Europe’s laggards. On a technology that has proven itself throughout European countries for over a decade now. This stumbling progress to date, has left us second from bottom on a list produced by Europe’s largest NGO coalition Climate Action Network (CAN) on Monday just past (18th June 2018) of countries and their progress toward their 2020 goals. However, the structures and processes that we already have in place, allows me to look at the current solar landscape and our ability to move forward with solar PV with positivity.